Cuba introduced two new banknotes in a bid to simplify transactions amid runaway inflation.
Cubans have long been accustomed to shopping with wads of cash stuffed into bags after compounding bouts of soaring inflation. But a tightened US embargo — including restrictions on oil imports, which generate the vast majority of Cuba’s electricity — has pushed inflation higher still, the Associated Press reported.
Havana hopes the two new banknotes, including one which is five times more valuable than the previous highest, will make paying easier. Meanwhile, the island’s population, almost all of which lives below the poverty line according to some estimates, continues to face essential scarcities, raising fears of a humanitarian crisis.
